RE: Introduce yourself here: Who are you? What do you do? What is your background?

mlb, 35 year old male, father of 3 (all with my ex-wife). Fiscally conservative. Socially I think the gov't should stay out of our personal life. Cincinnati graduate, work as a network manager for a small gov't contractor.

RE: Introduce yourself here: Who are you? What do you do? What is your background?

Let's see.. "I'm me.. not me.. I'm me!"

44 years (45 next month).. Born in Iceland, raised as a kid primarily in Illinois and Mississippi to two military parents, father in the US Army and Navy. Mother in the British Army.

Spent a year at Mississippi State before I realized I'd go broke before getting anything done (and realized just how cliquish certain universities are), so pulled 3 years at Junior College before finishing up with another 3 at USM with a degree in Computer Science with emphasis on Programming in '04.

Married with no kids due to family medical issues, and liked the current company I've been working with for 19 years that when we up and relocated... I jumped at going with the company to Missouri with no qualms.

Hobbies: I'm not much of a social person, so I don't go out and meet people much. I used to be a regular chess player (not so much anymore), Model Trains of HO Scale and Stamp Collecting. I'm a big fan of Sherlock Holmes, (I've got to make a trip to the St. Louis Science Center for their exhibition.), and I'm a huge fan of trivia games and shows (although I refuse to pay $150 bucks for a table at some of these trivia contests they have in St. Louis)

For my "physical" hobbies, I go bowling as much as I can but i can never seem to break that 170 average I've been wanting.

The one thing I joke about is about my family tree and the fact that I have one set of ancestors who show up in my family tree about 4 times, including in three entirely different generations (So they'd be great(x3) , Great(x4) and Great(x5)-grandparents all in one.)

I'm a Constitutional conservative who believed that the "commerce clause amendment" was the worst decision the Supreme Court ever made, overriding the 10th amendment.

And I personally think that comedians of today will NEVER (and I mean NEVER match up) to the comedy groups like Abbott & Costello, Laurel & Hardy, Danny Kaye, Dick Van Dyke, etc.

I guess that's enough:

Oh yeah, I believe Cats were spawned directly from the loins of Lucifer himself!

RE: Introduce yourself here: Who are you? What do you do? What is your background?

I'm HoD, a young attorney currently living in Montgomery Alabama. I'm from all over. I was born in Louisiana but grew up mostly in Africa and Europe with stints in Houston. My family is from Alabama so it is my only real home state.

I have a degree from UA, Samford, and The University of Vienna. I am considering going back to school for an LLM from Trinity College in Dublin.

I am involved primarily in international oil and gas as well as some government relations. I do a lot of work, or have worked, in Kurdistan, Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, Angola, South Sudan, Nigeria, Camaroon, Libya, and Kazakhstan.

Politically, I'm what is called a Christian Democrat in Europe. I'm socially conservative but economically moderate to left.

Introduce yourself here: Who are you? What do you do? What is your background?

Name is dragonlair. Born in Dallas grew up in milton, ga college and football at UAB now live in nashville.

Just a young buck a couple years out of college working my first job. Been married for nearly a year and my wife is due with our first kid in a couple days/weeks.

I work as a salesman for a manufacturer and my territory is large so I get to travel to a bunch of place in the mid Atlantic states. I go to a lot of industrial places such as steel mills, chemical plant rendering plant.

I know a lot of people don't like sales jobs but it is what I wanted to do. Very few jobs allow you to travel and meet a lot of good people and the money ain't half bad either.

RE: Introduce yourself here: Who are you? What do you do? What is your background?

I'm the youngest of 10 and spent most of my life in the far western burbs of Chicago. Got my Bachelors in Business (Operations Mgmt and Information Systems) from NIU and follow the football team closely, plus a few basketball games. Fiscally centrist I guess, and socially liberal. I'm an environmentalist at heart, but don't belong to any organizations like that. Most interest groups IMO make people lose perspective and make them less likely to see the forest for the trees (pun intended) and less likely to be able to listen to opposing arguments. I'm skeptical about economic theories. I grew up Catholic and see some sense in what I was taught about how to treat others but other than that I lean toward science now.

I voted for the older Bush but have gone more Democrat lately. When not making inane posts on this board I work for an insurance company, mostly a job not a career but it pays reasonably well. I also worked for the VA for 5 years right out of college, plus a couple other jobs. For hobbies I love playing pool and can play for hours, also reading, astronomy, playing scrabble, and running. And of course, watching football, both my Huskies and Da Bears.

RE: Introduce yourself here: Who are you? What do you do? What is your background?

I'm David, 32 married with 1 son and another due in January. I was born in Montgomery, AL then moved to Opelika (right next to Auburn) when I was 12. Moved to Birmingham at 18 thanks to a full ride academic scholarship to UAB. I was either a student or employee at UAB for 12 years and picked up 4 degrees along the way.

Currently I'm a nurse practitioner in Opelika. Moved back here 2 years ago to be closer to grandparents and to have a little more small town than Birmingham.

I'm fiscally conservative and socially moderate with a large libertarian streak. I believe people should be held accountable for their actions, especially when it comes to health care and their spending priorities.

RE: Introduce yourself here: Who are you? What do you do? What is your background?

Born and raised in Alabama. Parents loved to travel, so travelled extensively (all stateside) growing up.
Went to Rice on an NROTC scholarship. Played football and golf in HS, rugby and golf at Rice.
Did 4 years active duty in the Navy, mostly brown water, 2 deployments to West Pac, 1 to the Med, rest divided between Mideast and South America. Played some more rugby with Royal Navy counterparts east of Suez.
Back to Rice to get a Master's in Accounting, then on to U of Houston law school (on GI Bill, thank you taxpayers, you bought a lot of education for me). Stayed in naval reserves and retired as Commander (Lt Colonel for you army/air force types).
Attorney/CPA, spent my career doing regulatory, environmental, and bankruptcy law; IT, financial, and strategy consulting; and mergers and acquisitions, mostly for clients in energy, government, banking/mortgage/real estate, and health care.
Now semi-retired and teaching law at a university and coaching the women's rugby team.
Between navy, oilpatch, and rugby, have travelled a lot. Been to every continent, 60+ countries, round the world several times, as far north as flying over the pole and as far south as the coast of Antarctica.
Besides travel, other interests are sports and music.
Political views are pragmatic libertarian. Friend and supporter of Ron and Rand Paul. Two of Ron's children and Rand's siblings (Ronnie and Joy) are part owners of businesses that were long time clients of mine.

RE: Introduce yourself here: Who are you? What do you do? What is your background?

I'm Murray007. The name comes from series of computer games that I loved as a young kid - the Monkey Island adventure games. I currently attend Old Dominion University and reside in Norfolk, VA. I come from a stereotypical family of four and I have one younger sibling.

My family has moved all over the United States: we have lived in Texas, California, Kansas, Florida, and Virginia. Each place was a unique experience and I believe these experiences has made me a well-rounded person. Virginia has been an excellent place to live over the past 6 years as I graduated high school and then received a full-ride scholarship to attend ODU. I owe a lot to ODU for this great opportunity to graduate without any student debt. I have two majors here: history and mathematics. As far as teams go, I'll always follow the Monarchs and root for them. Also, I'm planning to attend graduate school at either the University of Wisconsin or the University of Minnesota.

Some other details about me:
I drive an old Corolla and do my own maintenance even on difficult repairs.
I love to bike and hike. I'm planning to complete most of the AT in Virginia this next May (I've already completed Georgia and Tennessee/North Carolina)

Political leanings:
I'm a libertarian by nature with some social conservative leanings. I do love talking about politics but I'm mainly a lurker here.

RE: Introduce yourself here: Who are you? What do you do? What is your background?

Ole Blue here. Born and raised in the center of Tennessee in Music City. Didn't live anywhere else growing up but now I temporarily reside in Miami, since I go to the U of Miami and will graduate soon. Will probably go into government work after I finish up my schooling (political science), probably not going to go into anything too controversial though (sorry to disappoint ). Baptist since birth and I still practice privately fairly frequently though I don't go to church that much anymore since there are no good baptist churches in Miami that appeal to me.

Politically: I am moderate and not too into political debate. Fiscally I am moderate to somewhat conservative. Socially I am more liberal (strongly pro-gay rights) but I am mostly pro-life (anti-abortion in most cases and anti-death penalty). I don't really like to identify with parties but the Republican Party of Tennessee is so far out there I hardly ever like any of their candidates. The Democratic Party is better but still not that good. I think I will try to steer clear of partisan politics in what I do for work.